Found this bit of trees and beautiful light in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar. This park is home to the picturesque Pwe Kauk Falls. There are vendors, a small carousel, toilets and lush grassy areas that are a popular picnic spot for Myanmar families. Pyin OO Lwin was formerly called Maymyo and was a British hill town. It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Planning a trip to Myanmar? Myanmar is relatively new to tourism and is rapidly changing. As such I wanted to give you a list of 6 essential things you should know about travelling in Myanmar and share my Myanmar itinerary.
This article will share how to get a SIM card in Myanmar, the best Myanmar destinations to visit like Inle Lake and the Mergui Archipelago, and the critical nuances of how to exchange USD to kyat. I will also share how to say thank you in Burmese, how to pronounce ‘Myanmar’ and the best time to visit Myanmar. Spoiler alert, my answer is now.
We travelled from Mandalay to the most southern city in Myanmar, Kawthaung. We cruised the Irrawaddy River for 9 hours to Bagan, drove 12 hours through the Shan hills and past small villages to Inle Lake, visited a cave with hundreds of Buddha along the way, saw paper parasols being made, attended a Pagoda Festival on Inle Lake, lit candles to honour my ancestors in Nyaung Shwe and went liveaboard boating around the Mergui archipelago in southern Myanmar. It was one of the most incredible trips of my life. It was wonderful to see where my father and grandparents grew up and finally meet over half of the 100+ relatives I have in Myanmar.
There were ATMs everywhere in Mandalay and Yangon but the country is still very much a cash society. Bring crisp, unmarked United States dollars (USD) for exchanging. There are a few exchange kiosks at the Mandalay and Yangon airports; you will also find some in the major cities. You may have read about having crisp notes; I can confirm that they were still strict about this. Family members had some notes rejected because there was writing on them, or the bill was slightly bent. Sometimes the ATM machines had run out of cash or we were not able to withdraw from some of them for unknown reasons. So make sure to plan for that.
Your phone must be unlocked to be able to use a sim card from one of the 3 wireless companies in Myanmar – Ooredoo, Telenor and MPT. All 3 companies are vying for your business at the Mandalay and Yangon airports. In October 2015, it was 1500 kyats ($1-1.50 USD) for a SIM card and 11,500 kyats for 2.5 GB of data (about $8-9 USD) with Ooredoo. The coverage was good in Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Bagan, Inle Lake, Kalaw and Yangon.
Data coverage was sporadic when we travelled through the mountains from Bagan to Inle Lake in Myanmar. That’s to be expected when travelling through the mountains anywhere in the world. When we travelled from Mandalay to Bagan on the Irrawaddy River, data signals were non-existent. Overall I was impressed at the coverage and the speed and was able to Instagram, Facebook, tweet and do video calling by Facetime with my family at home in Canada. For a 2.5 week trip, I had more than enough data. Most hotels in Myanmar have wi-fi but I found the wi-fi to be slow except for the Bagan King hotel we stayed at in Mandalay.
If you are visiting a temple or pagoda, cover your legs to at least past your knees. That goes for women and men. Also, cover your shoulders and expect to go barefoot once there.
Myanmar is open to tourism but is still very new to it. It is a very welcoming and friendly country, and they do want tourism to grow, but finding people with a good command and understanding of the English language can be difficult in most places. I have travelled in many non-English speaking countries and have found that the staff at the front desk of a hotel or people in the tourist areas are able to speak and understand English the best. This was not the case in Myanmar when I visited, especially at smaller locally-owned hotels and restaurants and in smaller towns. Please don’t expect that your servers in the restaurants will understand your questions about the menu or understand your food preferences. Keep your English simple, use gestures and have patience.
Update 2020: I’m hearing that it is a little easier to find people that speak some English. Still, be prepared for a significant language barrier.
The proper way to pronounce ‘Myanmar’ is not my-an-mar or me-an-mar. Listen to this pronunciation.
Now, seriously. Myanmar is continually changing and at a rapid pace. Go while you can still see Myanmar before all the shiny new hotels, buildings and Mergui Archipelago resorts takeover. It is a beautiful country, and though much has changed in the last few years, you’ll still get a real sense of the place.
If you prefer to visit when it’s not as hot, then I recommend a visit between mid-October to mid January. If you’d like to have moderate temperatures and good weather in the Mergui Archipelago then mid-November to February is ideal.
If you want to attend some lesser-known but cultural festivals, go to Myanmar in October. The weather is excellent, it’s the end of the monsoon season, and before the busy tourist season. The Festival of Lights known as Thadingyut is celebrated all over Myanmar on the full moon in October. I enjoyed celebrating Thadingyut in Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake). As a descendant of the lands, it was a beautiful and meaningful experience for me. Pagodas and temples are full of candles, and every home has a candle in their window. My father recalled celebrating the festival the years he grew up in Yangon.
The unique Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda festival occurs in the days leading up to Thadingyut in Inle Lake. During the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, the Karaweik barge travels for 18 days from village to village spending a night or two at their temple. The barge carries four images of Buddha, and a procession of boats that are powered by 100 leg rowers (the Intha men) per boat pulls the barge. We met up with the parade in a village on Inle Lake on the last day of the festival and then celebrated Thadingyut that same evening in Nyaung Shwe.
Read: Two Festivals Worth Travelling to Myanmar for
There is a reason tourists are visiting the places on the tourist trail, they’re worth seeing, but it can get crowded during the high season. Check out my 17-day Myanmar itinerary for ideas for your trip to Myanmar. See my ‘best time to visit Myanmar’ tip below.
Mandalay – 3 nights – Bagan King, Mandalay
I feel that 3 nights is the perfect amount of time in Mandalay to see the small city and visit nearby U Bein Bridge and Pyin Oo Lwin.
Bagan – 2 nights – The Hotel Umbra, Bagan
I would have liked one more night in Bagan, see the explanation below.
Bagan – Inle Lake by Private Van
We travelled by private car through the rolling hills of the Shan State to Nyaung Shwe. It was a 12-hour journey but we made many stops along the way.
Nyaung Shwe, Inle Lake – 3 nights – Hupin Hotel, Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake)
I worked our Myanmar itinerary around the timing of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival, because of that I had one less night in Bagan than I wanted and 1 more night in Nyaung Shwe than I needed. I feel I could have seen what I wanted to see in Inle Lake in 2 nights.
Yangon – 5 nights – Winner Inn, Yangon
Most of our time here was spent with family. I feel that 3 nights is sufficient to get a good feel of Yangon and even include a visit to the Golden Rock.
Kawthaung – 1 night
Mergui Archipelago – 3 nights liveaboard boat
We spent 3 nights travelling by boat with a 4 person crew, plus the captain and a Myanmar tourism official. Read below for more details.
Obviously, if you don’t have the time, there are ways to reduce the number of days for your Myanmar itinerary. You could visit for 7 days or 7 months and still not have enough time.
If your time is limited, I would say that you should not definitely put Inle Lake and Bagan on your Myanmar itinerary. They are two very different places that are not to be missed. I highly recommend finding a way to make it work and dare I say, skip Yangon or limit it to just 1-2 nights on your itinerary.
For me, there were two that stood out on my Myanmar itinerary above the rest – Bagan and the Mergui Archipelago. Sadly, I only had 1 night in Bagan but could have spent at least another 2 nights there. There’s just something about being surrounded by all the ancient temples and pagodas and knowing they have survived a few significant earthquakes. The history, the beauty, and the peace of the place drew me in.
For something off the tourist trail, plan a visit to the Mergui Archipelago, also known as the Myeik Archipelago in southern Myanmar. The Mergui Archipelago is still very much untouched with only 2200 tourists a year (2015 stats) and is home to the best beaches in Myanmar.
The Mergui Archipelago was hands-down the most remote place I’ve ever visited. We travelled by private liveaboard boat as we cruised from beach to beach for 3-nights/4-days. It was surreal. The only other people we saw were fishermen and the Indigenous Moken people.
The Mergui Archipelago is home to over 800 mostly uninhabited islands in the Andaman Sea, the indigenous Moken people and the best beaches in Myanmar. The Moken are traditionally a nomadic people that live by and off the sea, but have been forced to live in island villages and have been losing their traditional ways.
The beaches in this region of Myanmar were something out of glossy magazine. They only sign of life and those beaches not inhabited by Moken people were monkey tracks.
Snorkelling in Myanmar was incredible. It was the first time I saw such a variety of marine life and the first time (and only time so far) I’ve seen cuttlefish and squid. I snorkelled with a wide variety of tropical fish including ‘Nemo’ and ‘Dory’, moray eel, cuttlefish, urchin, squid, banded sea krait (sea snake), sea cucumber and several different coloured hard corals. I imagine that scuba diving in Myanmar is even more incredible, but I, unfortunately, don’t have personal experience to share. As we made our way back to the jetty in Kawthaung at the end of our liveaboard experience in Myanmar, we saw the fins of a shark in the distance.
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One of my favourite things to do when I visit British Columbia is to go on a whale watching tour. I’ve been to BC several times and have been on many whale watching tours in Victoria, Tofino and Vancouver, British Columbia.
While on a sunset whale watching tour in the waters of the Salish Sea near Victoria, we were surrounded by a family of orca whales. Suddenly, an orca whale came out of the water to check us out.
Shortly after the above photo was taken, a mother and baby orca swam under our boat, twice. We also had a rare opportunity to watch Orca whales as they taught their young how to hunt for porpoises and saw a humpback whale and seals. It was my favourite whale watching tour to date.
I highly recommend Eagle Wing Tours in Victoria, British Columbia for these reasons:
Watch: Killer Whales swim under our boat
Read: A Close Encounter with Orcas in British Columbia
Have you been thinking of a family trip to South Africa? Is family travel in South Africa possible? Can you go on a safari with kids? Can a 4 year old go on safari? Can a 9-year old go on safari? YES. YES. YES. YES and YES.
South Africa is one of my favourite countries in the world, and Cape Town is my favourite city. It’s also one of our favourite places for a family trip. So much so that we’ve been to South Africa twice as a family of 4.
If you’ve been following me on social media or here on the blog, you would have heard of The Heart of a Woman Project, a women’s mobile photography initiative I started in 2013 at eKhaya eKasi Art & Education Centre in Khayelitsha.
I have visited South Africa ten times; twice with my husband and 2 sons who were 9 & 4 the first time they visited. My father also joined me on three of those trips.
Here are some family travel tips for Cape Town, ideas of things to do with kids and information about doing a safari in South Africa with children.
Go on a meaningful tour with Uthando SA to visit development projects in the townships. Uthando is an award-winning fair trade tourism organization doing fantastic work. Your tour directly helps the development projects you visit; you will leave inspired.
Note: You can visit eKhaya eKasi with Uthando. Be sure to request them for your tour with Uthando.
Go to the lesser-known Boulders Beach in Simonstown where you can get off the path and take the boardwalk down to the beach for the best view of the penguins. Swim or splash in the ocean and have a picnic. Look for Boulders Beach Lodge and Restaurant on Google maps and enter the parking lot on Bellevue Road near the Simonstown Golf Club.
You can add a drive on the beautiful and winding Chapmans Peak Drive to your Boulders Beach visit. If you have the time, make sure to stop at the lookout points. Make a day of it and visit Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope too, passing smaller coastal towns. You might see ostriches, baboons, and seals. You can take the funicular or hike up to the Cape Point Lighthouse.
For a tour that covers the Chapman’s Peak, the penguins and the Cape Peninsula, check these tours out:
Visit beautiful coastal towns in the False Bay area of Cape Town. Plan a beach day or two or three in Muizenberg. Watch the surfers or go to the nearby waterslides or mini golf (seasonal). There is a playground at the main beach at Surfer’s Corner and plenty of restaurants. Have a falafel at Yoffi’s, go to the Friday Night Market at Blue Bird Garage, have brunch and fresh pastries at Knead Bakery.
Be sure to visit the smaller and less busy St. James Beach, they have the infamous colourful beach huts (change rooms) too and a great tidal pool for swimming. Take a walk around Kalk Bay, visit the independent shops and galleries, have fish ‘n chips at Kalky’s, grab brunch with a view at Bootlegger’s and dinner at Satori’s.
Note: If you prefer to self-drive, you can easily add a visit to Kalk Bay, St. James and Muizenberg with your penguins/Chapmans Peak/Cape Peninsula trip depending on how much time you want to spend at each place. It will take a full day if you do it all. I highly recommend spending a few nights in Muizenberg if you have 4-5 days in Cape Town. It’s a world away yet close enough to the CBD and great fun for the whole family.
Because ducks, over 1000 ducks! I was surprised to find out how family-friendly a winery could be. I had no idea. Adults can enjoy a great meal and wine tasting while children play on the grounds and have a picnic. Vergenoegd offers child minding. You can come back together for the duck parade. Read Visiting Family Friendly Vergenoegd Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa
Catch the sunset from Signal Hill and a view of Robben Island, it’s free and it’s my favourite spot to see the sun dip into the ocean. Bring a picnic. At certain times of the year, the City Sightseeing bus can take you there, otherwise order an Uber or drive yourself.
Visit Table Mountain for a sunset and city view. Be sure to check the current conditions as it may be too windy at the top and it will close early.
There is an overwhelming number of places to choose from for a safari in South Africa. Not all are created equal and are family-friendly. Some lodges welcome children 6 years of age and older while other lodges require children to be 12 years of age and older. I chose Naledi Game Lodges for our family safari as I had been there a few times and enjoyed the intimate atmosphere and South African family-owned safari lodge. My sons were 4 and 9 years old at the time and were welcome on all the game drives.
Naledi is an award-winning luxury lodge, but you may be surprised at how reasonably priced it is. We stayed at the Naledi Enkoveni lodge which is no longer a part of Naledi Lodges. At the time of our family visits, I hadn’t stayed at Bush Camp. I have since stayed at both lodges and they have a 2-bedroom suite which is perfect for families.
What I love about a safari in a private reserve:
Cons:
Tip: If you visit Naledi Game Lodges, make sure to visit Rosie’s hide while there, it overlooks a waterhole. Enjoy the sounds of the bush and see what comes by for a drink. Check out the 24-hour webcams streaming from Naledi at Rosie’s or from Naledi Enkoveni.
What I love about self-driving Kruger National Park:
Cons:
There are many ways to experience a safari in South Africa with your family if you prefer not to drive yourself.
You’re travelling and enjoying the views, clicking away and suddenly you get the dreaded “low memory” message on your iPhone. You look at your photos on your iPhone to try to decide which ones to delete so you have space to take more, BUT you don’t want to delete any of them. So what do you do?
For a while, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get my photos off my iPhone and on to another device such as my iPad/iPad mini while on the go.
Update:
I use a 16gb iFlashDrive from PhotoFast to transfer my favourite images until I can get a reliable
In March 2012 I set out on an 18 day, 6 country solo trip to Europe, my 1st ‘real’ solo trip. Yes I had travelled numerous times on business, to see friends around the globe and even once to Cuba to sit at a resort for 1 week by myself, but this was different. The first 8 days were going to be busy as I was going to travel 4 countries in that time. The beautiful thing about Europe especially when you are time limited like I am as a mom who travels solo, is that the cities and countries are so close together. If I wanted to go to Innsbruck, Austria for an afternoon/evening jaunt from Munich, Germany, I could and I did.
I was going to be travelling by train and bus and I really didn’t want to be carrying a large suitcase. So I started to google things like “packing light” and “carry on travel”. I came across One Bag. It was there that I discovered the bundle wrap packing method. Back in 1998 I went backpacking around Scotland with a friend and had one of those large backpacks. I’m not gonna lie, I did not like that pack on my back; it was bulky and it was heavy. This time around I wanted to be free of a heavy pack. I decided that I was going to be a carry-on traveler and was going to limit myself to a carry on backpack.
Off I went to Mountain Equipment Coop in search of a pack. My only real criteria was that it had to be carry on. With all that travelling, I didn’t want to take a chance at the airlines possibly losing my luggage. I came across the MEC Pangea 40 and was sold.
It fit well and it was carry on. After I decided on what clothes to bring I attempted to pack it all. Although I managed to fit everything inside it was bulky and packed to the brim. I wanted to see if there really was a difference between the way I normally pack and the bundle wrap. Amazingly the bundle wrap really does work and make a difference. It took me about 10 minutes to do the first trial wrap and I got it down to about 3-4 minutes on my travels. It’s a little intimidating at first, but if you follow the diagram at One Bag it’s pretty simple – for how to pack using the bundle wrap method, visit here.
Here’s my clothes all wrapped up with space left over! It’s really freeing to be able to travel with just a carry on.
My clothes packing list:
The toiletries were in a clear case and I laid it flat on top. I also
brought a clothesline, sink stopper and woolite for hand washing. Ya I kick it old school. My Gran used to always do her clothes by hand, I learned from the best. I also carried a small make up case and some scarves for when I needed to dress up for the opera or ballet.
On my solo travels I always travel with a Pacsafe and wear it cross-body. It is said that people that pickpocket go for the easy grab. The packsafe is slash proof, cross-body eliminates the grab and it has locks so it can’t be unzipped easily in a rush.
I started off with one of the smaller pacsafe bags but now carry the pacsafe metro 200 and LOVE it. I feel more confident and safe walking around with one. I have the one shown below but in grey.
While I did love travelling carry on, the backpack gets to you after a while and I really wanted something light, carry on and more stylish. I did some research (I’m such a researcher) and came across the Travelite luggage company in the forums, I believe it was the Flyertalk forum and the One Bag forum. They are from Germany and from what I could tell at the time aren’t sold in Canada or at least not directly. I happened to be going to Munich and found out where I could buy one there so that was my mission for my arrival in Munich at the end of the 8 day whirlwind to 4 countries. On my first night of 3 nights in Munich I picked up a red Travelite StarLITE carry on rolling suitcase, I bought it at Maria Buscher. If you go to Maria Buscher, say hello to Peter.
Oh how I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this suitcase. It’s so light, weighing in at about 4.5lbs. It’s a hybrid of a suitcase, the back is hard and the front is light soft material and it opens up like a book. The roller part of the suitcase does not sit inside where you lose space. On my travels, flight attendants have asked where I got it. It’s THAT good! 🙂
So after Munich I put my souvenirs in my backpack and my clothes in the starLITE. My next stop was Paris where I was to be for 5 days. I then went to London for 3 and left my backpack in the lockers at Gare Du Nord for the weekend as I was going back to Paris for one night before I flew back home to Canada. It was a great plan and now anytime I travel solo, this is what I take as well as I pack using the bundle wrap if I need the space.
Until next time,
Andrea… and my wandering iPhone
